MPs are right to raise issues with the government’s job support schemes

The Public Accounts Committee is worried about a lack of transparency and the plight of freelancers among other things, writes James Moore

The schemes have kept millions from joining Britain’s rapidly growing number of unemployed people  (Getty)

The government’s Job Retention Scheme (JRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) were put together with commendable speed when Covid-19 landed on these shores.

The former has potentially protected millions of jobs in industries burnt by the pandemic. The latter has provided at least some freelancers with income at a time when the only other option was universal credit.

But their operation has not been as transparent as it might have been and the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is worried about a lack of evaluation of their operation that might otherwise have plugged some of the gaps, most obvious with the second of them.